The Conceptual Realm of Human Rights in Hannah Arendt's Thought
Subject Areas :
Keywords: Hannah Arendt, Human Rights, Conceptual Realm, Totalitarianism,
Abstract :
Abstract Hannah Arendt was one of the most prominent thinkers of political philosophy in the twentieth cen-tury, and the views of many scholars in the field of political philosophy in the present century are still inspired by her thought. She is the author of books such as Totalitarianism, Revolution, and The Human Condition. In the intellectual system of Hannah Arendt, the manner of formation and func-tioning of totalitarian states has been explained, and Arendt, with subtlety and precision, depicts the accompaniment of the masses with the state machinery in the creation of totalitarianism. She ex-plains that the totalitarian current, by riding on the wave of the emotions of the masses and penetrat-ing into the minds of human beings, carries them along with itself. Profound and unique concepts are seen in her political philosophy, including the political matter resulting from human action in the public realm which, alongside civil society, can bring about the liberation of the citizens of the modern world. The concept of theoretical challenge between the two concepts of moral evil and human rights finds meaning precisely at this point. Arendt faced a set of events and incidents which she tried to describe under concepts such as totalitarianism and human rights and, of course, also expressed her own solution. With the current understanding of Arendt’s political thought, it can be said that her solution in human rights lies in the concept of citizenship rights, plurality, freedom, the public sphere, political participation, and so on. With the critiques that Arendt directs toward the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it can be concluded that her understanding of this concept is very different from what is heard today, and therefore her words may not only be incomprehensi-ble but may even lead to misunderstanding and mental confrontation. Therefore, addressing this subject can, while enlightening the audience, create a ground for the recognition of Hannah Ar-endt’s political thought, particularly her ideas in the field of moral evil, human rights, and the rela-tion between these two in her thought. In addition to all this, finding an answer to the causes and factors of the phenomenon of evil and violence is of great theoretical and also practical importance, and the recognition of Arendt’s thought can be an important step in this direction.
Ali Hosseini, Ali et al. (2017), Hannah Ar-endt's Methodology for Understand-ing Political Phenomena, Journal of Methodology of Human Sciences, No. 94.
Ansari, Mansour (2021), A Re-examination of Thinking in Hannah Arendt's Po-litical Thought: The Intertwining of the Human Condition and the Life of the Mind, Contemporary Political Essays.
Arendt, Hannah (1962). "Action and the pursuit of happiness", in A. Dempf (ed.), Politische Ordnung und menschliche Existenz. Festgabe für Eric Vögelin zum 60. Geburtstag (München: Beck), 1-16.
Arendt, Hannah (1987), Totalitarianism, translated by Mohsen Salesi, Tehran: Javidan Publications.
Arendt, Hannah (2000), Thinking and Moral Considerations, translated by Abbas Bagheri, Tehran: Ney Publications.
Arendt, Hannah (2002), On Revolution, translated by Ezzatollah Fouladvand, 3rd edition, Tehran: Kharazmi Pub-lications.
Arendt, Hannah (2009), The Human Condi-tion, translated by Masoud Aliya, Tehran: Qoqnoos Publications.
Arendt, Hannah (2012), The Life of the Mind: Thinking, translated by Ma-soud Aliya, Tehran: Qoqnoos.
Arendt, Hannah, (1961), Between Past and Future, New York: Viking Press.
Arendt, Hannah, (1963), Eichman in Jerusa-lem: A Report on Banality of Evil, New York: Viking Press.
Arendt, Hannah, (1968), Men in dark times, New York: Harcourt.
Arendt, Hannah, (1982), Lectures on Kant’s political philosophy, ed. R. Beiner Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Arendt, Hannah, (1994), “A Reply to Eric Voegelin.” In Essays in Understand-ing, New York: Shocken Books.
Arendt, Hannah, (1994), “Understanding and Politics”, in: Essays in Under-standing, New York: Shocken Books.
Bashiriyeh, Hossein (2006), Hannah Arendt: A History of 20th Century Political Thought, Bokhara Journal, No. 58.
Canavan, M. (1985). Politics as culture: Hannah Arendt and the public realm. History of political thought, 6(3), 617-642.
Canavan, Margaret, (1992), Hannah Arendt; A reinterpretation of her political thought, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Haji-Agha, Rahim and Paknia, Mahboubeh (2018), An Explanation of the Posi-tion of the Public Realm and the Po-litical in Hannah Arendt's Political Thought, Journal of Political and In-ternational Approaches, Year 10, No. 1.
Jahanbegloo, Ramin (2006), Hannah Arendt and Modern Politics, Bokhara Jour-nal, No. 58.
Keshishyan Siraki, Garineh (2019), The Ba-nality of Evil from Arendt's Perspec-tive, Tehran: Kani Mehr Publica-tions.
Tardyon-Rad, Ali et al. (2015), Hannah Ar-endt's Philosophical Hermeneutics in Conformity with Heidegger's and Gadamer's Interpretive Approach, Journal of Political and International Approaches, Year 6, No. 4.
Watson, David (2006), Hannah Arendt, translated by Fatemeh Valiani, Teh-ran: Hermes Publications.